Manes of Love
by Lily and Mara
Summary: First ever MoodyFleur! When Auror Fleur is called to Moody's home to investigate a Dark break in, sparks fly. But she can't decide between Moody and Bill Weasley! Trouble's a-brewin!
1. Default Chapter

Fleur Delacour took a long sip of coffee. She swallowed slowly, gracefully, as the hot liquid seeped down her throat. Ah. How refreshing. She lazily tied her long, silvery blonde hair into a high ponytail, set her empty coffee mug down on a counter and grabbed her wand. And then, in the blink of an eye, in the beat of a heart, in the twitter of a bird, she Apparated.   
  
With a loud pop, Fleur Delacour appeared in her little cubicle in the Auror headquarters. She looked around, disgruntled, at the tiny space she was given. How was Fleur Delacour, star Auror, supposed to work in this sorry excuse for an office?   
  
"Delacour!" bellowed her boss, Mr. Ziffengaffen.   
  
"Yes, Mister Ziffengaffen?"   
  
"Here," he said roughly, shoving a sheet of parchment into her hand. Ah. It looked like a report. Fleur noticed with red anger that Mr. Ziffengaffen was admiring her in her new black robes.   
  
"Mister Ziffengaffen, if a man named Bill Weasley comes in, show him to my office, will you? He's, you know, my fiance."   
  
Ziffengaffen's face went white. He had never liked Bill Weasley much, especially now that he was dating Fleur, the caliente little chica.   
  
"Ahem. Of course," he stammered, "Yes. Well. The report, right. Alastor Moody...er, Mad-Eye, you know...called in. Says there was an intruder in his kitchen, that he sensed some dangerous dark magic. Check it out, will you?"   
  
Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody. Fleur closed her eyes in a daydream. She remembered his face so well, though it had been over five years ago when she had seen him last, at the Triwizard Tournament at Hogwarts. There was something about Moody that Fleur could not place. What was it about him - his grizzled mane, knarled features, numerous scars, odd magical eye - that made her stomach tie itself in knots? Fleur wasn't sure she wanted to know.   
  
"Bill," she told herself firmly, "Just think of Bill."   
  
*   
  
Fleur soon apparated to the lonesome house in which Mad-Eye Moody resided. It made Fleur sad. It seemed so lonely, so deprived of love and life...she thought she would like to be able to fix that, but told herself sternly that she loved Bill and Bill loved her.   
  
"Hello?" she called, "Mr. Moody? Are you home?"   
  
"Oh," came a gruff voice, "In the sitting room."   
  
Fleur was quite shocked when she walked into the sitting room and saw Alastor Moody lounging in a spiffing tuxedo. She frowned, wondering why he would be wearing such an odd invention of Muggle fashion. She shrugged and supposed it was none of her business.   
  
"Alright, Mr. Moody," she said professionally, "Tell me, what exactly happened."   
  
Moody fidgeted. Fleur figured it was because of his ordeal but in reality it was for a much different reason. "I was sleeping. And I heard noises, coming from my kitchen. Which is no big deal, usually, sometimes I just hear things, see? So I get out of bed, and all my Dark Detectors are going haywire! I keep them in my bedroom for safety. So, I go down to the kitchen and it's all in disarray - I'll show you - but they had left by that time."   
  
Fleur nodded as she took notes.   
  
"But I'll tell you, Miss Delacour, whoever it was is dangerous. I  
  
reckon they were trying to finish me off for good."   
  
Fleur frowned. "I didn't tell you my name."   
  
Moody's weathered face softened - was Fleur imagining it? "I knew."   
  
*   
  
Fleur left Moody's as soon as she could. She didn't trust herself around that sexy beast of a man. Flustered, she walked hurriedly back to her sad little cubicle where Bill waited for her, lounging in her leather chair and twiddling his thumbs. God, he looked pretty fine himself.   
  
"Fleur," he greeted, standing and kissing her on the cheek. Fleur stiffened. She wasn't sure why. She had never felt this...well, violated when Bill kissed her before. She frowned and tried desperately to keep Moody from her mind.   
  
"Hello Bill," she said. Why did she sound so cold?   
  
"Lunch?"   
  
"Sure, just a sec," said Fleur, "Listen, do you know Mad-Eye Moody?"   
  
"Ol' Mad-Eye? Yeah, kinda."   
  
"Has he - has he ever been - been...married?" Fleur tried to sound casual but failed miserably.   
  
"I think, maybe. Decades ago...I think she died of a snake bite. Some Dark wizard set a snake after him and got his wife instead. Her name was Murphy," he said. Suddenly his voice got sharper, more suspicious. "Why?"   
  
"No reason," Fleur said quickly. Too quickly. She kissed Bill quickly to hide her nervousness. "Well, let's go to lunch, then."   
  
(*)(*)(*)(*)  
  
A/N: Yo yo yo! This is Lily and Mara and we so hope that if you bothered to read this that you'll review! Mwah! 


	2. Chapter 2

MANES OF LOVE: Chapter Two  
The Rough Draft...Half 1.  
  
There is a POA ref . in here  
  
"Sure, just a sec," said Fleur, "Listen, do you know Mad-Eye Moody?"  
  
"Ol' Mad-Eye? Yeah, kinda."  
  
"Has he - has he ever been - been...married?" Fleur tried to sound casual but failed miserably.  
  
"I think, maybe. Decades ago...I think she died of a snake bite. Some Dark wizard set a snake after him and got his wife instead. Her name was Murphy," he said. Suddenly his voice got sharper, more suspicious. "Why?"  
  
"No reason," Fleur said quickly. Too quickly. She kissed Bill quickly to hide her nervousness. "Well, let's go to lunch, then."   
  
Bill decided to put the question out of his head. He assumed Fleur was getting jittery about the wedding and was letting work business collide with personal life. He smiled at her, putting his arm around her, knowing this would make her feel better. However, he didn't notice her quick look of disgust at this outburst of affection. Like the fluttering of a dying leaf in the autumn wind, they Apparated to The Burrow, anticipating the feast that was to come.  
  
"Why didn't we Apparate inside, Fleur?" Bill stood hunched over inside his coat. "You know this spring has been colder than normal!"  
  
Fleur merely shook her head. She needed the extra time to prepare for his family. As they stood before the gate to the Burrow, Fleur knew she had to try to be normal. In the seconds that it took them to reach the door, she was coming close to realizing something, but she couldn't tell just yet. Was she really falling in love with Alastor Moody? And more importantly, was she falling out of love with Bill? She had to blink to make herself stop thinking about this pressing issue.  
  
They walked up to the door, and before they could knock, the door was opened by none other than...Moody?! Fleur blinked furiously and realized that it was merely her soon to be brother-in-law, Ron and his girlfriend, Hermione.  
  
"Bill! Fleur!" At this, Ron went pink in the face, much to the displeasure of Hermione. She remembered back in the fourth year when they had realized Fleur was part-Veela. "We didn't expect you so soon! Thought this was for dinner..."  
  
Hermione nudged Ron. "Ron, did you just wake up or something and time is changed for only you? Molly said NOON, and last time I checked noon is not dinner! Don't give me that look!" Ron was trying out his new "niffler-eyed" pouty face as he knew he had somehow angered his love.  
  
Bill burst out laughing. "Listen to you two, quarrelling like an old married couple!" Fleur couldn't help but smile. Apparently, the niffler- eyes had worked. Fleur had to suppress a chuckle as she followed Bill to the kitchen to find Molly, leaving the two behind to make up.  
  
Fleur walked into the kitchen, having been "abandoned" by Bill in favor of more interesting discussions with the boys. She was immediately attacked by one of Molly's gigantic hugs.  
  
"How's my favorite daughter-in-law?! The wedding's not to far off now!" Molly noticed Hermione walking in. "Ooooo, how's my favorite almost-certain- of-being-my-daughter-in-law?!?!" Fleur sat down at the large table and looked around at the room. Molly was showing Ginny and Hermione the secrets of her famous sauce. It all looked so cozy.  
  
Fleur began to wonder if this was the life for her. Did she want to live her life as a discontented housewife, making age old sauces and raising strawberry blonde children? Or did she want to spend the rest of her life pouring love and life into the lonesome little house? Blushing, she remembered Moody in his spiffing tuxedo. Falling into a daydream, she imagined herself in the wedding dress she admired walking towards Moody in his tuxedo. Smiling, she began to imagine a wedding ceremony.  
  
Ginny looked up from the sauce recipe and nudged Hermione. "Look at Fleur. She looks really odd." Fleur was sitting on a stool with a huge grin on her face, her eyes staring at nothing. Ginny looked back, but Hermione continued to watch Fleur. She had to blink as she saw Fleur mouthing the words "I do. There is nothing I want more than to be Alastor Moody's wife." Ginny had looked up at this point and walked over to Fleur.  
  
"Er, Fleur? Uh, would you like to see more of the house? I know you've seen it before, but we've, er, changed things around."  
  
Fleur blinked and the daydream was lost. "Sure, Ginny."  
  
Ginny looked at Hermione, obviously confused at her almost-sister-in-law's strange behavior. "Hermione, why don't you come along too?"  
  
"Sure, Ginny, that sounds nice." Hermione followed Ginny and a dazed Fleur upstairs.  
  
"First stop, my room, I guess." Ginny opened the door to her room with a flourish. They walked inside and looked around, with Fleur edging closer and closer to the door.  
  
Hermione began to laugh. "Ginny, why have you written "Mrs. Ginny Potter" all over that notebook?"  
  
Ginny began to turn red and stammer. Fleur seized the opportunity to escape and backed out into the hallway, practically running down the stairs. It's not like she didn't like her almost-sister-in-law, she just wanted some time alone. She went and sat back down at the table, wishing that lunch would be ready soon. She sighed. Guess I'll have to owl the office and say I'm taking this afternoon off. She got up to go ask if she could borrow Errol and promptly bumped into-  
  
"Bill! Sorry, didn't see you there, dear," She forced herself to add that last bit so no one would suspect anything.  
  
"Where are you going that you couldn't wait to look and see if anyone was coming?"  
  
"Oh, nowhere, I guess. I was just going to ask your mum if I could borrow Errol."  
  
"Why do you need an owl? What possibly couldn't wait until you got home?"  
  
"Well then, guess I have to tell you now. I was merely going to owl the office and let them know I was taking the afternoon off." Fleur attempted to look like someone who would be happy about taking the afternoon off, but in her heart, she wanted to go back to Moody's and ask more questions. Bill told her where to find Errol, who was remarkably still alive, and she sent a brief note.  
  
At long last, they were all seated and eating. Even Fleur had to admit, this meal was wonderful. She was able to think about her pressing issues in peace until Arthur began asking the non-Weasleys how their jobs were going. She was getting nervous as Hermione rambled on and on and on about her new job at Hogwarts. She began to lightly sweat when Harry, who had just Apparated in to see Ginny, talked about his professional Quidditch career and how he was planning on entering training to be an Auror. And then it was her turn.  
  
"So, Fleur, I heard you had to go to Mad-Eye's today. Dustbins again?"  
  
"Er, well, I, uh, he said he thought someone was going to finish him off for good..."  
  
Bill must have noticed the genuine look of fear in Fleur's eyes. "Don't worry, Fleur, dear. Mad-Eye's been saying people were going to finish him off for ages. They wouldn't really kill him. You're too compassionate about things like this, dear! Lighten up!"  
  
Fleur nodded, slipping back into her thoughts like she slipped into her new black robes this morning. She was now convinced she had fallen out of love with Bill and in love with Alastor. Her new pressing matter had just occurred to her. Couldn't she just run off, take the Knight Bus somewhere random and arrive at Alastor's doorstep, declare her love, and live happily ever after?  
  
"I guess it's just not that simple," she found herself saying aloud, to no one in particular.  
  
Everyone was staring at her. Apparently, Ron was in the middle of professing his love to Hermione and he had paused. Fleur blushed and lost herself in her thoughts again, blankly staring at everyone else. If Ron and Hermione could have their happily ever after, why couldn't she?  
  
Bill stood up, noticing his fiancée's odd behavior. "Well, congratulations to you little brother. Me and the lovely Fleur are going to Hogsmede; last minute wedding shopping, you know! We'll be back over for one of these sometime next week! Love you all!" With this he grabbed Fleur's wrist and they Apparated. 


End file.
